Dan Hansen

Thirteen of the 95 Spokane County employees who have cars and trucks provided by taxpayers recently lost them because their bosses couldn't justify the expense. More employees could lose around-the-clock use of county rigs under a review ordered by county commissioners. The employees use the cars for commuting to and from work as well as for county business. The county pays all expenses, including insurance, gas and maintenance.

Spokane County commissioners want to use $1.3 million earmarked for replacing an outdoor swimming pool to help build a private indoor pool instead. If approved, the deal would mean the county won't replace its crumbling pool at Valley Mission Park. Instead, the money would go toward a $5.3 million aquatic center the YMCA of the Inland Empire plans to build at Mirabeau Point. Mirabeau, former home of the Walk in the Wild zoo, is about a mile from Valley Mission Park.

In a first for Eastern Washington, most voters will do their civic duty from their kitchen tables when the Seahawks stadium goes on the ballot next month. Spokane, Pend Oreille, Adams and Ferry counties are among 27 statewide that will not open polls for the single-issue election on June 17.

One of Spokane County's most contentious housing developments got the go-ahead Tuesday night, after both sides reached a compromise that seemed impossible three years ago. Approval of the Turtle Creek subdivision in Greenacres may be the first visible effect of the state's Growth Management Act in the Valley.

Spokane County employees will get some, but not all, of the new cars and trucks they say they need before summer. On Tuesday, county commissioners approved buying 11 of 20 vehicles on a list submitted by county department heads. They rejected the entire list in March, saying some of the cars and trucks were too luxurious.

1. It's lonely at the top. All alone for now, Billy Humberstone, 13, sits in the Tenderfoot General Store in Winthrop, Wash. He should have considerably more company once North Cascades passes are open. Photo by Torsten Kjellstrand/The Spokesman-Review 2. Jim Dahlquist and Howard Staford inspect a plow that has been working on unusually deep snow along the still-closed North Cascades Highway.

Patrick Tabak staked out a spot on Doomsday Hill Sunday to propose to Becky McKimmey. She stopped running long enough to say yes. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

The freewheeling days may be over for a chow named Mowgli. The Veradale dog, which was accused of biting a boy, snapping at animal control officers and regularly running loose, was declared "dangerous" Tuesday by Spokane County commissioners.

Spokane County commissioners have taken the unusual step of ordering a review of the county's human resources director. The action follows complaints from some of Ben Duncan's employees that he downplayed a sexual harassment charge against his deputy director and threatened employees, saying they could be "immediately fired" for releasing confidential information to the media. In October, Duncan wrote a letter of reprimand for Deputy Director Gary Carlsen for "inappropriate contact with another person in the Human Resources Department." The specific allegations are not outlined in the letter.

Spokane County commissioners agreed Tuesday to let Mead High School expand its sports fields onto 14 acres of future gravel pit. The deal, which was already approved by Mead's school board, will cost the district $10 a year.

Smokers who work for Spokane County may soon lose their last hazy hideout. Saying that the smell of stale cigarettes lowers the value of county-owned vehicles, county commissioners want to post no-smoking signs on the dashboards.

The answer to whether Jet Ski users can use the Spokane River is yes, no, sometimes. In a decision they acknowledged will please no one, Spokane County commissioners voted 2-1 to allow powerboats on one free-flowing stretch of the river and ban them from another stretch. Powerboats will be allowed on a third stretch during the coldest half of the year.

Last month, county officials evicted an encampment of carnies at the fairgrounds. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

In 1992, Spokane County spent $7,400 buying 15 tents to keep vendors dry during the Interstate Fair. One remains. What happened to the rest? "There are various theories," said Fran Boxer, assistant county administrator and the woman in charge of the fairgrounds.

The Spokane Regional Health Board agreed Thursday to mail a sex survey to 5,000 homes. The $10,000 survey, to be answered by teens and adults, is designed to determine how much people know about peer pressure and other reasons teens have sex.

A $2.4 million communications system will help travelers find their luggage, their flights and their relatives at Spokane International Airport. The Spokane Airport Board on Wednesday decided to spend the money on computerized signs to better track departures and arrivals of commercial flights and luggage. It will be a vast improvement from the reader boards provided by individual airlines, said airport spokesman Todd Woodard. "Every time you call, the flight's on time. We've all come out here and found that that was not the case," Woodard said.

Two dogs in Otis Orchards face an uncertain future after allegedly killing a poodle. According to testimony at a recent "dangerous dog" hearing, Peter Cupid, the poodle, was running in his owner's yard when he was attacked.

Two large dogs accused of killing a smaller one are dangerous, Spokane County commissioners decided Tuesday. The ruling means Mead resident Robert Marci must meet a long list of costly requirements if he wants to keep his mixed-breed dogs, Ashley and Husker.

Faced with busier roads, heavier trucks and two consecutive harsh winters, Spokane County's top engineer wants his bosses to ask taxpayers for more road money. After meeting with Bill Johns and road department engineers for two hours Wednesday, county commissioners didn't approve a public vote on a tax of $15 for every car, or 2.3 cents for every gallon of gas. Or both. But they didn't rule out those options, either. Instead, they promised to discuss it during an upcoming meeting with the Spokane City Council.

A developer hoping for more land on which to build is challenging Spokane County's plan for controlling urban sprawl. "We don't have a problem with limitations. What we have a problem with is the strangulation of the local economy and local developers," said Michael Murphy, an attorney for developer Harley Douglass. Douglass, who did not return a telephone message Monday afternoon, is appealing the county's urban growth boundaries. He filed paperwork late last week with the regional hearings board, a state panel that settles disputes involving the Growth Management Act.

Bill Hinkle doesn't like much about the state's Growth Management Act. But the Kittitas County commissioner especially despises the three-member board that makes sure the act is obeyed in Eastern Washington.

FROM FOR THE RECORD (Saturday, April 12, 1997): Correction Clarifying who's who: The Washington Environmental Council joined a Spokane environmentalist in challenging Spokane County's "critical areas" ordinance before the Eastern Washington regional hearings board. A story in Friday's newspaper listed only the individual.

Precious didn't stand a chance. According to the terrier's owners, they were walking Precious on the playground at Garden Springs Elementary School when a German shepherd stepped out from behind a tree, sniffed their dog and picked it up and shook it. Her neck broken, Precious died on the spot. The next day, on Feb. 18, animal control officer Sheri Kent deemed the shepherd, Sequoia, dangerous.

A North Side developer says he'll put 10 mobile homes on a lot overlooking the Little Spokane River unless the county lets him build apartments there instead. "We've got approval for a mobile home park and we're going to build it," a frustrated Jim Markley said Tuesday after county commissioners rejected his plans for a 21-unit apartment on three wooded acres.